2BHK houses in Telangana becoming a mirage

Huge mismatch between target and progress in construction

​Hyderabad: The implementation of the prestigious 2-BHK housing programme of the Telangana State Government has been turning from bad to worse by the day. On average, the construction of at least 356 houses should be completed every day. However, in reality not even two houses are being completed.

As per the target of the government, construction of 2.6 lakh houses has to be undertaken. However, only 1,416 houses are nearing completion so far. The rest of the houses are struggling at the stage of calling for tenders.

The state government, which has proposed to spend thousands of crores of rupees to construct 2BHK houses, has so far only spent only Rs 113.32 crore, according to a report prepared by the Housing Department, which is in the possession of The Hans India.

According to the original plan, the Housing Department has to undertake 2.6 lakh houses by the end of March 2017. Of these, 78,996 houses were allotted to the districts. However, tenders were called for only 71,893 houses out of which tenders were confirmed for 27,415 houses.

Again, out of the confirmed tenders, the construction was started for only 16,069 houses. The Housing Department’s report revealed that the construction of only 1,426 houses was completed by the end of February.

In spite of the completion of the construction, not all the houses were handed over to the beneficiaries. Only 396 houses in IDH Colony in Hyderabad and 568 houses in Gajwel, the constituency of the Chief Minister, were handed over to the beneficiaries. The construction of 462 houses was in the final stages of completion.

In essence, as per the Housing Department report, after the formation of Telangana state 2BHK scheme was implemented for only 964 families.

Though it has been claimed that the construction of 16,069 houses was undertaken, in reality only 7,212 houses are under construction in Siddipet, the native district of the Chief Minister.

Since Irrigation Minister Harish Rao also hails from the same district, the construction is going on at a brisk pace there. Out of the sanctioned 8,434 houses to the district, 90 per cent of the houses are under construction.
The remaining 5,786 houses were sanctioned to the 12 districts and not a single house was being constructed in the rest of 18 districts in the state.

A glance at the district-wise performance reveals that the construction of 1,334 houses in Mahbubnagar, 145 houses in Kamareddy, 80 in Nirmal, 225 in Karimnagar, 459 in Jayashankar-Bhupalapalli, 1,384 in Warangal Urban, 1,085 in Kothagudem 1,404 in Khammam 470 in Suryapet and 1,880 houses in the limits of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are undertaken.

Surprisingly, the construction of only 45 houses is undertaken in Nirmal which is the home district of Housing Minister Indrakaran Reddy while not a single house is being built in Sircilla, the district represented by Municipal and IT Minister K T Rama Rao.

It has been proposed to construct one lakh houses in the limits of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. However, no builder came forward to construct the houses at the rate of Rs 7.75 lakh fixed by the government though the tenders have been called for a number of times so far. A realtor told The Hans India that it was not viable to construct a 2BHK house with about Rs 8 lakh. However, he expressed readiness to venture if the cost was put at Rs 10 lakh.

In the districts, there has been inordinate delay in identifying the suitable land for the 2BHK houses.
A top official of the Housing Department who wish not to be identified told The Hans India that they could not undertake housing in the districts due to the problems like disputed lands, layout problems,approach road hurdles, lack of government land.

At places not even tenders were called for. He said that in some districts the land identified by respective tahsildars was not suitable and situated in the full tank level of irrigation tanks. Moreover, builders are not coming forward to undertake construction at the rate fixed by the government, he added.

The builders state that they would incur loss if they undertake construction of houses for Rs 5.04 lakh in rural areas and Rs 5.3 lakh in urban areas. A Housing Department official from Warangal told The Hans India that this was the reason the builders are not coming forward to undertake construction.

As a result, though the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) sanctioned several thousands of crores of rupees, the pucca housing for the poor remained a dream.

Suryapet District Collector Surendra Mohan, while talking to The Hans India, admitted that though thousands of houses were sanctioned, only hundreds are being built. He said that the district was sanctioned 1,900 2BHK houses. However, only 192 houses were being constructed, he added.

Local people expressed dissatisfaction over the construction of less number of houses. Local person Ramulu said that the eligible people would never get houses even in hundred years if the houses were constructed at this pace.

The Opposition parties criticised the government for constructing the houses for MLAs at jet speed spending crores of rupees. They point out that the Parakala MLA camp office was constructed at a cost of Rs 69 lakh in six months and similar camp offices are under construction for the MLAs in 70 constituencies at a cost of Rs 1 crore each.

Congress spokesperson Dasoju Sravan wondered why the government was not undertaking housing for the poor with the same zeal. He demanded that the government should undertake housing for the poor immediately if it has real commitment.